


The Umbrella Academy: Season III

by beangoth, interstellarstars



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: And NO incest!!, Bisexual Diego, Canon Compliant, Gen, Pansexual Klaus, Season 3 plot, Trans Diego Hargreeves, lesbian Vanya, nonbinary klaus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:27:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beangoth/pseuds/beangoth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellarstars/pseuds/interstellarstars
Summary: Reeling from the events of season II, the Umbrella Academy and the Sparrow Academy initially fight to take each other down, but end up finding a common enemy.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Lila Pitts
Comments: 1
Kudos: 55





	1. Intro -- Before Day I (What the hell happened to the timeline?)

The siblings apparate to a grinding halt in their entryway. After everything they endured, they are safe and back home. Finally. But things are off in their home, and things have been shifted. Diego notices it first, when he points out the picture of Ben over the mantlepiece where the picture of Five, honoring his disappearance, should be. Then they see him, seated facing the fireplace: the man they finally thought they would be free of. Reginald rises and turns to face them. “I knew you’d show up eventually,” he says oh too calmly. 

The siblings are stunned, and Diego breathes out “Dad…” in disbelief. Luther follows by stating, “you’re alive.” Reginald responds in his clipped and always slightly annoyed tone in a question. 

“Why shouldn’t I be?” 

The group look amongst each other, flabbergasted. Luther stammers out that yes, there is in fact no reason for him to be dead now in this timeline. They saved the world. Their job was done. Luther continues by saying that he was relieved to be home, and is happy that they are all together again. Nobody agrees with him on this, however. Reginald looks perplexed, and asks “Home? This isn’t your home.” Allison looks shocked, and responds immediately. 

“What are you talking about?” she demands. “This is the Umbrella Academy.” She adds, desperately hoping she is stating the obvious. 

“Wrong again.” Reginald clips, already growing tired of this conversation. “This...is the Sparrow Academy.” 

Dread settles in the pit of each and every sibling, as they hear footsteps approaching on the upper floor balcony. A group of five, no...six? figures appear in what can only be recognized by those who know it through experience as “numbered order.” The first is not a human silhouette at all, but some sort of floating cube with a glowing light shining through it. The rest, hidden in shadow, are difficult to identify as anything other than “danger.” The siblings do know one thing: they are not looking in a mirror. Their stunned silence is broken by another seventh figure, who comes down to their floor level. This one is not a stranger. But he is also clearly not their brother. They are staring face to face with Ben, but he is not looking at them with anything other than disdain. 

“Dad? Who the hell are these assholes?” Not-Ben asks Reginald. Something had to have gone wrong when they jumped back. Terribly wrong. But what? What led to this nightmare timeline where their own brother, alive and well, does not recognize them? Despite a scar slicing across his cheek that is foreign to his normally soft face, and a swoop of hair that grazes over his left eye, it is the spitting image. A few of the siblings steal a glance at Klaus, who looks ready to collapse. They’re gobsmacked, and begin to open their mouth to speak, but a few of the others cut them off with a collective “Oh shit.”

“Dad, I mean-Reginald. What the hell is going on?” Luther asks, looking wounded and desperately confused. 

Reginald gives what can only be described as a smirk, which is startling to all of them. In all their years being under his roof, he never smiled, let alone gave a hint of one. He looks like a sly cat, who knows that the mouse is pouncing-distance away from his talons. “Oh come now, you couldn’t have possibly thought that I would have adopted you after meeting you back in 1963, did you?”

“B-but you...you sought us out specifically. You looked at all of the forty three kids. You picked us.” Vanya chokes out, her voice breaking on the last word. Klaus looks as if he is about to make a step towards Nega-Ben, but Diego shoots him a look and sharp shake of his head. His knife hasn’t left his grip. 

“Dear girl. I didn’t seek you out. I sought your _powers_ out. There were other children that possessed the same abilities as you. But I happened to pick you because your real parents handed you over to me. I wasn’t going to make that same mistake again in choosing you,”  
Klaus barks out a laugh, astonished but not at all surprised by what they’re hearing. “Well old man it looks like you’re not winning Father of the Block for another year in a row! Better luck next time.” Allison grits her teeth and the shadowy figures above them stir. “Klaus don’t.” Her tone is warning, and she places her hand around his wrist. 

“What, was Father of the Block too generous? I knew that Father of the Year he would have no shot in hell and i wanted to give him a fighting ch-”

“What do you mean _your_ father?” A familiar but uncharacteristically cold voice pipes in. Klaus whips their head back to turn to Ben, and that seems to deflate any rant that was just on the tip of their tongue. 

“I think the use of the word ‘father’ was generous enough Klaus.” Diego bites out, staring daggers at Reginald. Klaus moves to stand closer to him wordlessly, and Allison keeps her eyes fixed on the figures above them. 

“You actually were a big part in helping me come to my decision. _Diego_ , was it?” Reginald says, his voice dripping in malice. Klaus instinctively puts an arm out to clutch Diego’s arm, but he jerks away from it, daring to step closer to Reginald. 

“Yeah. Diego. I guess it was a stretch to assume you would give a shit about remembering any of our names. Numbers always seemed all you were capable of.”

“Okay wait wait hold on before we get into another Godfather reenactment can I ask what the hell is going on here? _You_ told me that everything would be fine,” Five says to Reginald, pointing his finger at him.

“No, Number Five, I said that-”

“Number Five?” The same strikingly similar voice cuts in. The group turn to Ben, who is staring transfixed at Five. 

“Very astute observation. We haven’t properly made our introductions have we? Children, why don’t you come down and greet our guests?” Reginald says, waving his hand towards the figures on the balcony. Ben gives his “father” a smirk, and the six above them are suddenly all moving so fast that in an instant, they have hurdled over the banister and are now face to face with the siblings, the floating cube hovering near them. 

As the Umbrella Academy takes in the Sparrow Academy, and blinks away the glare of the back window, Diego is already moving. His knife is put away as he reaches for one of the members.

“Is that…” Vanya trails off.

“Lila, I thought I’d never see you again,” Diego grins for the first time since arriving back in his childhood home.

“Diego, hang on, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Five warns, as the figure who the others recognize as Lila falls into a fighting stance.

Diego’s voice drops to a whisper. “We’ll get you out of here, whatever he’s done-” Moving quickly, Lila knees Diego in the stomach, and when he curls over, hits him to the floor.

In an instant, Five flashes over to his brother, and he is taken aback when another member of the Sparrow Academy does the same and appears right next to him. All members of each academy are now poised for a fight, and they face off against one another. Klaus, attempting to ease the tension, steps forward to Ben, and puts their arms out in a motion as if to quiet toddlers. “Okay so everyone let’s all take a little breather here. Now you all of course don’t know this but in our timeline, I am Number One, and I think-”

“Klaus!” Luther grunts out, sizing up their opponents.

“Okay, okay fine. As Number Two-”

“ _Klaus!_ ” Diego manages to spit out, still hunched over below Lila.

“Fine whatever as Number Four, and the person wearing the largest hat, I think we all need to-”

“Oh will you shut up?!” Ben growls, and lays back punching Klaus square in the jaw. 

“Aww I missed you too Benny!” Klaus says from below him, spitting blood onto the carpet and grinning. 

This is a signal for the real fight to break out. Allison and Luther begin fighting off some of the other members, and Diego rolls out of the way as Lila is about to kick him once more in the ribs. Vanya whips her head around back to Lila, wondering if using her powers would be catastrophic with her ability to mimic her. Allison, stepping up to a blonde boy in front of her, starts to whisper “I heard a rumour” before she is immediately cut off by him beginning his own trance.  
“Simon says that you beat the crap out of the short one.” 

Five and Allison turn to each other, wide-eyed. Five sighs, “Oh shit.”

Allison runs to Five, but still maintaining control of her voice, squeaks out “Go on! Teleport! Go!” Five, resigned, just stops and urges, “Just get it over with c’mon! Then it’ll be over and we can go back to the others. Hit me I know you want to!” 

Five blocks his head with his arms, and as Allison throws the first punch at his abdomen, Diego is on his feet. He turns again to Lila, desperately trying to snap her out of whatever spell he believes she is under. He dodges another punch from her, but is hesitant to fight her because he doesn’t want to have to. She keeps coming at him, determined to knock him to the ground. Diego winces, and grits out, “Fine,” as he winds back to throw a swing back at Lila. Narrowly missing his ear, a knife sticks into the pillar inches away from his head. 

“Woah woah hold up, who else has got the knives here?!” Diego shouts, whipping his head back and forth in a moment of distraction. Lila moves forward with a smirk to kick him in the jaw, and he just narrowly ducks and leg sweeps her, knocking her to the floor. 

“That would be me.” An unfamiliar voice answers, and Diego turns to see a tan girl with dark curly hair and narrowed eyes fixed on him. “Number Two.”

Diego stills, and he looks uncharacteristically tentative. He reaches for his own knife, and sizes her up. Allison, now free of the spell from her double, faces off against Lila as she gets back up off the ground. 

A louder voice above the fray booms out, and the entire room shakes at its strength. “I heard a rumor that everybody froze!” As the sound ricochets around the group, they all cover their ears but remain still. All of her siblings stare at her, and marvel at her sudden burst of power. 

“Don’t worry Allison I wasn’t going to move anyway! Laying on this carpet takes me back.” Allison glances down at Klaus, still on the ground with a bloody chin, curled up on his side comfortably on the floor. She rolls her eyes but clarifies, “I heard a rumor everyone except my brothers and sisters froze.” 

Now regaining their faculties, the six siblings stretch their numbed limbs slowly and begin to move towards each of their counterparts. Like possessed statues, the Sparrow Academy moves their eyes wildly, trying to shake off the curse Allison has put them under. Klaus, moving to a sitting position cross-legged, looks at Reginald with a smug smile. “See, now if he was exactly like this when we were kids, maybe everything wouldn’t have been so bad!” Vanya giggles, and brushes herself off from her scuffle with one of the doubles. They all walk up to their counterparts gingerly, taking in a good look at each of them now that they are immobilized. 

“Wait. So in this timeline, Number One is a floating cube thing?!” Luther asks in alarm, eyeing the object hovering a few feet away. Five, wiping blood off his nose from his fight with Allison, looks at the cube inquisitively. He circles it, and suddenly his eyes widen in recognition. “Hold on a second...is that Carmichael?” 

As the other siblings move over to examine it, Diego stays fixed to his spot in front of the other knife-wielding figure. He gets up close to her face, and mutters so nobody else can hear him, “No. She can’t be Number Two.” Still in charge of her voice under Allison’s spell, the double smirks. “Why not? Threatened?” She raises her eyebrow at him as he backs away slightly. 

“No!” Diego yells, then softer, “No. You do not know me.” He instinctively reaches for his knife, and starts fiddling with it in his hand. The others hear Diego shout, and turn away from the cube towards him and his frozen double. Luther steps closer, eyeing her with something like recognition. His eyes widen, and he slowly asks, “Wait..is that you before-” Diego whirls on him in an instant, and his knife is at his brother’s throat. Allison starts to protest, but Vanya stops her by putting her arm out in front of her. “No. Shut up.” Diego says through gritted teeth, his words clipped and deliberate. “She. Is not. Me.” 

Luther nods slowly, with his chin tilted away from the knife. Diego lowers it, and backs away from him, his eyes still dark and full of fire. Suddenly his attention switches to Reginald, and he says slowly, “Where’s m-m-mom.” The others turn to him as well, as his brow furrowed in confusion and dismissiveness. “Oh, you mean that silly robot? We turned her off years ago. She outgrew her usefulness. Didn’t evolve to suit our needs.” Diego turns on him in an instant, and moves over to Reginald, gripping his jacket collar in his fist. “W-where. Is she.” 

“No offense, Diego, but there are a few more _pressing_ issues we need to get through!” Five spits out. “Like what the hell happened to the timeline? Who are these people? Why does Ben have a scar? And what the hell is AJ Carmichael doing in our living room?”

As the Sparrow Academy looks to Reginald, they stay frozen. However, Reginald brushes past Diego and takes a step forward to everyone -- especially Allison’s -- surprise.

“ _Our_ living room? I think I have made it quite clear that this is not your home. This is my house, and I allow my team to stay under its roof. I have dealt with your shenanigans once in 1963, and I vowed to never have to again! Now, unhex my sparrows, and _leave this academy!_ ”

Which is exactly what they do.

“What the hell was that? Five?” Allison asks.

Five starts briskly down the sidewalk.

“Well I think that went well. Do you think we can have a lil’ old fashioned family BBQ with them next time? Might be less messy.” Klaus says breezily, falling into stride next to Diego. 

“This,” Five gestures around him, “is the worst thing that could have happened.”

“Well, what are we gonna do?” Vanya asks, catching up with the rest.

“There’s nothing to do! We messed up! We lost! Daddy Reginald wins again!” Five abruptly stops walking, then teleports out of sight.

Allison gasps, and shakily breathes out, “Claire. I have to find her.” and she immediately hurries back the way they just came.

“Stop! We can’t keep splitting up!” Vanya says.

“Personally, I would love some alone time. Ah! Time… our good friend!. See you when I see you.” Klaus waves loftily to their remaining siblings, and crosses the street as a car honks at them.

“I’m gonna go after Allison,” Luther says as he hurries off.

“Luther, no!” Vanya tries, but he is already on his way.

“Diego…” Vanya starts, not confident that her brother will listen, but he is frozen in place, looking back at the Sparrow Academy mansion. “Are you okay?” She asks softly, turning to him.

“I have to go back.”

“I know.”

**Day I…**


	2. Day I, Part I (Alright, let's wing it)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Hargreeves family fashion, the siblings are unable to stay together in one place for more than a few minutes. After splitting in the middle of the sidewalk, each sibling has an unexpected encounter.

**Day I, Part I**

**Five:**

He knows that his other siblings will look to him to solve this, but Five has no idea what to do. He needs help, but he needs people that know how to work with time. There is no other option, he will have to find his way to whatever version of The Commission that exists without the Handler or AJ Carmichael.

Five finds his way to a convenience store he knew was down the street. He smiles at the teen at the register, who scowls back. 

“C’mon,” Five whispers. “Recruit me.” 

He scans the store; nothing was out of the ordinary, no message had dropped. Five watched the teen at the register put airpods in and press a button, which meant he was in the clear.

Five teleports. Then, again.

“Hello!? See anything that interests you!?” Five yells to the ceiling, waving his arms around “come _on!_ ” Five swings his arm and hits a twinkie off of the shelf. “Screw you,” he says to the offending dessert, remembering his time in the apocalypse. 

“Hey, you need anything?”

Five flinches, “No, everything I need is right here, don’t worry ‘bout it!” 

“...Okay, cool. I’m gonna take my break.” the teen puts up a _“be back in ten!”_ sign, and walks into the store’s back room.

Five immediately gets to work. He teleports on and off of the shelves, and for added flair even does a flip that Diego taught him at Elliott’s.

“Commission! The Handler! Timeline! Apocalypse!” Five yells all the buzzwords he knows to try to get someone’s attention. “What are you waiting for!? I’m commission material! I can time travel, goddammit!” 

Five teleports again and continues to weave between the short shelves in the convenience store, when a familiar voice speaks out.

“That should do it, kid”

In the middle of a jump, Five tumbles to the ground. He looks up to see the face of someone he thought he’d never see again. Someone he was _sure_ was dead. But the timeline was different. If Vanya was never denoted in 2019, then… 

“Cha-Cha,” Five breathes out.

“In 1963, you interfered with a mission from our operative Mr. Five, destroyed his briefcase, and stole a deceased Commission officer’s briefcase that is still in your possession. As acting Handler of the Commission, I am placing you under arrest. You have the right to remain silent-”

“Wait, you guys are doing arrests now?”

“-Which you are not utilizing. Your crimes _will_ be paid for.”

“Do I have the right to an attorney?” Five asks, putting his hands up slowly. If this was the way to the Commission, he figures he would take it.

“An attorney?” Cha-Cha laughs. “No. Come with me.”

**Luther and Allison:**

Allison hastily sprints down the street, with Luther at her heels. She looks bleary-eyed towards the pavement, and Luther catches her shoulder to stop her. “Allison, you know I’m here to help. But what exactly is your plan?” 

“My plan? Luther, what do you think? I’m going to find my daughter.” Allison starts walking again.

“Wait, wait hold on. Let’s think about this. This is a completely new timeline. Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, use Google?” Luther suggests, trotting alongside Allison and she power walks in no direction in particular. She halts suddenly, and Luther nearly slams into her back at the abruptness. 

“Google _what?_ ” Allison asks, exacerbated as her tolerance for Luther’s suggestions declines by the second. 

“I mean, you right? You might still be famous in this timeline if you still wanted to act?” Luther suggests, and Allison considers this for a moment. 

“Yeah...yeah that’s true. Shit, but we don’t have our phones!” Allison sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. A pedestrian crosses them on the sidewalk, and Luther startles them out of their unawareness. “Hey, can we borrow your phone? We uh, left ours’ at home.” Luther asks in the most non-threatening voice he can muster. The passerby looks taken aback by Luther, but then turns her attention towards Allison with faint recognition. 

“Oh! I know you! You’re...Allison right? I saw you in that Shakespeare adaptation that you were in last fall!” 

“Yeah, I was!” Allison says, quick to go with the flow of what has been handed to her. “I’m filming here, that’s why I’m not back in… in…” Allison says hesitantly, hoping that the passerby is a big enough fan to complete her thought.

“You’re from New York, right? I remember you did your Vogue home tour video from your Hamptons house there!” The passerby exclaims, looking proud of her vast knowledge of a complete stranger. 

“Right, exactly! Which I’m actually catching a flight to in an hour. Thank you for the kind words, but we have to go,” Allison says, grabbing Luther’s arm to drag him away.

“I think they wanted a picture,” Luther says. 

“We have to get to the airport.”

“Allison-”

“Don’t try to convince me I need to stay here-”

“Allison!” Luther tries again.

“When Five is off doing god knows what!”

“ _Allison!_ I’ve been carrying the briefcase this whole time.”

“Flights are probably-- wait, what?”

“I’m holding the briefcase. It travels through… I guess, distance. Not just time.”

Allison looks startled, but determined. “Okay. But only Five really knows how to use it.” She says furrowing her brow. Luther forces out a laugh and says, “Well hey, we stopped another apocalypse a few hours ago right? How hard can this be?” 

Allison smiles briefly and sighs. “Alright, let’s wing it.” 

After putting in a few coordinates for their destination, they both reach down to grasp the handle. In a flash, they are in a new city with a new view. Allison glances around back and forth down the street, scrunching her nose in confusion. “Okay we’re close. This is my neighborhood. But not my house. I think Reese Witherspoon lives here,” she muses, starting off in a different direction. Luther follows close behind, the briefcase in tow. After a few minutes of searching, Allison stops suddenly, inhaling sharply and staring down the front door of a white penthouse with windows that bleed light out onto the street before them. 

Before Allison and Luther can step towards their destination, the front door suddenly bursts open. A relieved looking man runs outside towards Allison and hugs her around the shoulders tightly before she or Luther can react. 

“Honey! Thank God you’re alright, I’ve been worried sick.” The man sighs in relief next to Allison’s face. She looks wildly at Luther, who she is facing behind the man’s back. 

“Patrick. It’s good to see you too.” 

**Diego:**

As a kid, Diego tried as hard as he could to sneak out of the Hargreeve’s mansion. He would shimmy down walls, or -- if Klaus joined him on his adventures to freedom from their father and responsibilities much too great for children -- he would pray the door wouldn’t squeak, and exit through the front door. Sneaking back in was usually never a problem. He would stay out late (his father was not the “tucking in to bed” type) and when he returned, would simply climb through the window he had left open. He made sure to change what window it was each time he snuck out, which made him feel like he was on a mission, rather than on an escape. 

However, sneaking back into the Umbrella Academy now was going to prove to be difficult because it was not the Umbrella Academy at all. Diego looks at the front door from a distance. The umbrella crest that he grew to loathe is very clearly missing, replaced by a sparrow. 

Glad that he is still in gear that allows for it, Diego starts to climb the side of the block-long building. He quickly reaches the attic window, which unsurprisingly is unlocked. Holding on with one arm, he uses the other to push up the window, pull himself in, and collapse to the floor of the attic. 

Diego immediately rises to his feet and instinctively pulls out one of his knives. He scans the room for any potential threats. There are an assortment of items and a few old, wooden tables, but Diego’s eyes are drawn to a white curtain that is thrown over a chair, with something clearly concealed underneath. His heart rate picks up; he is expecting it, but tearing the curtain away to reveal the pale and dusty figure of his mother makes him stumble back into a lamp that crashes to the ground.

Diego can barely look at her, but he knows that he just created a loud enough crash that someone would likely investigate. He stumbles forward and stands to get his bearings, creeping forward gingerly towards Grace, who is sitting peacefully with her eyes closed, as if she has been put under a curse like Sleeping Beauty. He reaches forward to run his finger over her arm where her circuitry is, and shudders remembering how he had to slice it open to shut her off. There is a switch by her wrist he knows will turn her back on, and he flicks it, expecting for his mother to beep back to life. She remains cold and frozen. He furrows his brow, and tries to flip it off, then back on again. And again. Grace remains dead, and shows no sign of power. 

“Mom, c’mon. I know you’re in there, w-wake up!” Diego hisses, shaking her slightly to see if he can jog her back to life. She remains as still as she did before, and in desperation, he sinks back against the wall facing against his abandoned mother, and tucks his knees up in front of him like a child. He puts his head in his hands and involuntarily lets out a sob, feeling helpless and out of control. 

“Did you just break into our house to start crying?” A familiar voice asks, and Diego’s heart leaps into his throat. He shoots his head up and hastily wipes his eyes, looking up at this timeline’s version of Lila. 

**Vanya:**

After leaving Diego behind at the Sparrow Academy, Vanya breaks off in the opposite direction down the street. She feels aimless, in a trance as if she can’t get her bearings. She thinks of the first and last place she felt normal in her old life, which was her apartment. Maybe, this version of her still lived there. She hastily makes her way down a few blocks, that feel familiar but eerily different. Passing a bookstore, she stops in her tracks, peering into the window. Maybe there was one upside to this universe, if the window was empty of her name. Quickly glancing at the discounted covers, she sighs in relief, seeing that her own autobiography is nowhere to be found. Finally, a silver lining, she thinks. 

Her eyes do fall on a very thick book towards the front of the display that reads in bold red letters “SECRETS OF THE SPARROW ACADEMY: THE POWER WITHIN.” It feels like a bucket of ice water has been dumped on Vanya, and her teeth begin to chatter. How did they screw up this badly again? 

Vanya slides into the door, and the bell dings, alerting the salesperson. She nods to him at the desk and snatches the book off of the display, and begins to flip through the pages. Scanning the back cover, she hears a voice vaguely speaking behind her. 

“Oh, Sparrow Academy. That’s a good read. It’s so sad. What it says he did to them.” 

Still not looking up from the book jacket, Vanya responds, “What? What does he do to them?” 

The voice answers, “Well apparently he didn’t even consider himself as their father. Just brought them to live under his roof as some sort of power grab. 

“Huh. Sounds like my dad.” Vanya says.

“Honestly, mine too,” the voice responds.

Vanya turns to meet the gaze of the owner of the voice. She immediately drops the book she was holding. Leonard Peabody. Harold Jenkins. Her serial-killer ex-boyfriend is standing in front of her with a smile on his face.

**Klaus:**

Feeling far too alone with their thoughts, Klaus departs from the rest of the group and turns down a corner. It has been an extremely long day and it isn’t even nine in the morning. They make their way down some familiar back alleys that they haunted in their former life, and some things do not in fact change. Klaus makes their way to a familiar apartment complex, shielding their eyes from the sun with the brim of their hat. 

“Well I guess I don’t have much to lose here. Now that I don’t have my chaperone anymore.” Klaus says to themself as a joke, but their voice cracks on the last word. They are now, truly all alone with their thoughts for once in...forever. They heave a sigh, and hit the buzzer on the side of the doorway. It beeps, and before the person on the other side can get a word in, Klaus greets them with,“Yo Bobby! Bobbironi are you home?” 

The speaker fizzles to life, and a voice questions, “And who the hell is this?” 

Klaus rolls their eyes and makes a “psssh” sound before answering cheerfully, “It’s Klaus! I can’t imagine I would be much different in this timeline. I mean your timeline. Well here. I’m here!” 

“...Say that name again?” 

“Klaus Har-actually I don’t know my last name, isn’t that a pickle?” 

“Okay. Hang on.” The voice says slowly before another obnoxious buzzing sound opens the front door. 

“Ouchie. That was loud for this early in the morning.” Klaus grumbles at the noise and attempts to quiet it by putting a finger to his ear. A figure appears in the lobby area in front of them, and upon seeing Klaus, steps back in astonishment. The boy known as Bobby is around Klaus’ age, and falls a bit shorter than them. 

“Klaus..? You’re alive?”

Klaus looks down and pokes themself in the stomach. “Well, it looks like I am! But the day is still young.” They grin, knowing that the young man before them has no clue how close they came to being killed earlier that day. 

Bobby, as Klaus referred to him earlier, takes a step closer to them, eyeing them up and down inquisitively, and Klaus takes the moment to do the same to Bobby.

“Your hair,” Klaus says, practically in a whisper. They reach out, but stop before touching Bobby’s hair. “It’s… BLUE!”

“Do you hate it?”

“No. It’s everything. You… are everything.” 

Bobby turns to the side, holding his head in his hands, and Klaus gasps as the streaks of blue move out of their reach.

“Anyway. I thought…I saw the news story-” Bobby starts, staring off into space. 

“Oh you shouldn’t read everything you see on the news! Okay moving on, but do you do the same line of work that I would imagine you do?” 

“Are you asking if I sell drugs?”

“I’m so glad you said it and not me this time!” 

“So, you’re alive, but… I mean, Klaus, no one’s seen you in two years. We expected the worst. Where were you?” Bobby asks.

“You know, the usual. Stayed in Texas. Cult stuff. My siblings needed me.”

“Are you high right now? You’re an only child.”

Klaus smacks their palm against their forehead and winces. “Shoot you’re right I keep forgetting I am proudly not a Hargreeves anymore.” 

Bobby looks at them in utter confusion, and shakes his head to move on from whatever this line of conversation is. “Okay fine. So do you like...need a place to crash? You’ve always been a good friend. If you don’t, like, go hunting for my supply and don’t kill my plants, you can stay here no problem. And it’s...good to see you.” 

“You are a lifesaver, the wind beneath my wings! Unrelated, but can five other people stay here too or is that pushing it?” 


	3. Day I, Part II (I'll take the book)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanya buys a book. Diego reads one.

**Day I: Part II…**

  
  


**Vanya:**

Registering that the book clattered to the floor after dropping out of her hand limply, Vanya startles and reaches down to pick it up. Leonard, still maintaining that eerie politeness that Vanya confused for genuine kindness, bends down at the same time and picks it up first. He hands it to her, and she mumbles out something she hopes resembles “thank you.” 

  
  


As a child, Reginald taught the Academy but specifically Vanya to suppress unpleasant emotions or feelings and swallow them down. For Vanya, this came with a numbness that the medication brought on, but she became very skilled at burying things deep inside. Knowing that Leonard has the potential to be more useful alive than dead, she takes a shuddering breath and forces a smile. 

  
  


“Hey, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Leonard says with an awkward laugh. Vanya, desperately trying to maintain her composure, sighs and shakes her head to ward off any suspicion. 

  
  


“Yeah! Yeah I’m totally fine. So you-you were saying something about the book. Who wrote it, was it one of the siblings?”

  
  


“No, just someone who claimed to have ‘insider information,’” Leonard says while rolling his eyes good naturedly, putting air quotes around the last two words. 

  
  


“Oh! Oh, so does that mean none of it is true?” Vanya asks, feeling relieved that the secrets of these siblings were not spilled out from the inside like they were with her own book. Leonard continues on and shakes his head. “I didn’t say _that_ , necessarily. Why are you so curious about them, anyway?” 

  
  


“I’m just...a fan..?” 

Leonard looks at her in confusion and responds, “Hm. I didn’t really think that the Sparrow Academy has _fans_.”

  
  


Thinking quick on her feet, Vanya immediately asks in return, “Well what does that make you?”

  
  


Leonard smiles and throws up his hands, playfully defeated. “I guess I’m just a lover of candid tell-all…”

  
  


“Gossip?” Vanya asks sharply, losing her temper for a moment.

  
  


Leonard doesn’t seem to notice. “Yeah,” he says. “I like gossip. Who doesn’t?”

  
  


“True.” Vanya forces a smile. “Wait, so if dad -- I mean their dad -- wasn’t around, who raised them? Was anyone there for them?”

  
  


“You’ll never believe it. A chimpanzee with human intelligence! It homeschooled them. Crazy stuff. You should really read the book. See ya.”

  
Leonard smiles at Vanya and starts to head toward the door of the bookstore.

  
  


“Wait!” Vanya exclaims, and biting down on her pride, she adds, “Could I get your number?”

  
  


“Oh,” Leonard says, raising his eyebrows. “Sorry… but we don’t really know each other.” He leaves it at that and strolls through the front door, the bell ringing as it swings behind him.

  
  


“Ouch. Sorry,” the person at the register says.

  
  


“I’ll take the book,” Vanya says, bringing SECRETS OF THE SPARROW ACADEMY: THE POWER WITHIN to the register.

  
  


**Diego, 2014:**

  
  


_Growing up, we all knew we were being trained. At the beginning, we weren’t sure what it was for. We were just excited to be a part of our father’s growing empire. We watched him in awe; no matter how little he tucked us in, we thought of him as our savior. When he adopted those four boys and three girls, he was “saving them” from an ordinary life. Which gets complicated when you are the only ordinary one among your siblings of superheroes._

Hargreeves, Vanya. _Extra-Ordinary: My Life As Number Seven._ Dark Horse Publishing. 2014. Page 3.

  
  
  


He had to have read that wrong. But there was no denying it: _three girls._ There must have been a misprint. Vanya wouldn’t do that. Would she? He flipped to chapter two.

  
  
  


_We learned of the unconventional nature of our mother when we were six years old. Number One vowed that she was not there when we were babies, but no one believed him. How could he possibly remember that?_

_The first time I saw my mother “recharge” was with Number Two and Number Four. The two of them brushed off my questions, pretending to know what was happening. However, I found out later that they had only known of Mom’s nature for one extra day._

_She was a robot, built by our father. We were supposed to believe that he made her because he wanted us to have the loving hand of a mother’s care. I now know that it was because he did not want to have anything to do with taking care of us. I have to hand it to him, though; she was the most attentive and caring mother any of us could have asked for._

_My fondest memory of my mother was the day she helped me pick my name. It was the day I became more than a number, though I was the last one of my siblings to pick my name (except for Five, who never did)._

_Mom told me where I was born. Russia! We walked to the local library to scan through Russian literature to find the perfect name for me. I was still young, so I could not read larger or more complicated books. I picked up an Anton Chekhov play. The thinness of the spine made me believe it was a children’s book. Mom told me that it was a play for the stage, which fascinated me because we had never stepped foot in a theater. I wouldn’t put it back, which is when “Uncle Vanya” became the basis for my name._

_Like most fond memories, the aftermath did not remain sweet. Our father sat us down in the living area, and went one by one through us._

_“Number One!”_

_“Luther!”_

_With a swift nod, he moved on to Number Two._

_“Number Two!”_

_I watched Number Two glance at our mother. She smiled at my sibling encouragingly, and I did the same, though Number Two didn’t catch my eye._

_“Diego.”_

_“Speak up, Number Two!”_

_“Diego!”_

_The rest of us remained silent, and our father looked up from his notebook._

_“That does not seem very appropriate,” my father said._

_“Why not? I’m going by Vanya, that’s also a boy’s name! I found it in a pl-”_

_“Number Seven, you have spoken out of turn, and disrupted the order. Go to your room.”_

_I knew from my father’s tone that it was not time to argue, but ‘time to argue with Dad’ was never on the schedule. I left the sitting room and slowly made my way to my tiny bedroom. I had to learn the names of my siblings the next day._

  
  
  


Hargreeves, Vanya. _Extra-Ordinary: My Life As Number Seven._ Dark Horse Publishing. 2014. Pages 15-17.

  
  


Diego snapped the book shut. This story was clearly not a typo. He could practically see his sister’s smug smile, as she thought she was being clever by telling this anecdote in vague terms. That she was not revealing too much. But Diego had watched Allison’s life be ruined by the headlines, he didn’t want the same thing to happen to him. People would put it together. 

He hoped they wouldn’t, but he knew they would dissect every word, and unravel the childhood he tried so hard to escape.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Written with user beangoth!


End file.
